Policing

Representation of Female Police Officers in Film

Associate Professor of Criminology and Criminal Justice, Indiana State University

Key Findings

Only 15 films included female officers in a leading role in police films from 1971 to 2011.

The key barriers female officers face in the workplace were not addressed in film depictions of female officers.

Female officers in film were routinely depicted as having romantic relations with their male colleagues and/or shown to have joined policing because of a traumatic past.

Description

In the article, “The Depiction of Female Municipal Police Officers in the First Four Decades of the Core Cop Film Genre: ‘It’s a Man’s World’,” Wilson and his co-author examine how female officers are depicted in film. The researchers used film depictions of police officers to determine the quantity and quality of female representation in the police force. The study analyzed 112 police films between 1971 and 2011 using the cultivation theory, which states that individuals repeatedly exposed to messages through media will begin to adopt beliefs based on those messages. The results found that only 15 films included female officers in a leading role. They also found that the key barriers female officers face in the workplace were not addressed in film depictions of female officers. Female officers in film were routinely depicted as having romantic relations with their male colleagues and/or shown to have joined policing because of a traumatic past. The authors concluded that the films can potentially impact police officer perception, recruitment, and retention of female officers through the cultivation theory and that more research is needed to to examine the extent of this impact.